VfB Fichte Bielefeld

Football club infobox
clubname = VfB Fichte Bielefeld


fullname = VfB Fichte Bielefeld e.V.
nickname =
founded = 1903
ground = Stadion Rußheide
capacity = 12,000
chairman =
manager =
league = Landesliga Westfalen I (VII)
season = 2007-08
position = 5th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=ffffff|body1=ffffff|rightarm1=ffffff|shorts1=ff0000|socks1=ff0000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffff

VfB Fichte Bielefeld is a German football club based in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed out of the merger of "VfB Bielefeld 03" and "SpVgg Fichte Bielefeld 06/07" on July 1, 1999.

Of the these predecessor sides "VfB Bielefeld 03" was the more successful, as "SpVgg" remained an anonymous local side. In 1931 "VfB" captured the west German championship. Two years later German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top flight divisions and "VfB" eventually earned promotion to the Gauliga Westfalen in 1941. However, they were immediately relegated after finishing at the bottom of the table well back of other clubs. In 1943 "VfB" joined "Arminia Bielefeld" in the wartime side (Kriegspielgemeinschaft) "KSG VfB/DSC Arminia Bielefeld" to play to the Gauliga. The combined side also finished last, but remained in the top flight through the incomplete 1944-45 season as the league struggled to continue play as Allied armies advanced on Germany.

After the war the two clubs resumed play as separate sides. "VfB"'s best result was ascent into the 2. Oberliga West in 1950 and participation in the semi-finals of the German amateur championships. Through the 60s and into the early 70s the club played as a third division side in the Verbandsliga Westfalen-NO, before slipping and bouncing between fourth and fifth tier competition until the end of the 90s.

"SpVgg" played in the Landesliga Westfalen (IV) during most of this period, with the occasional descent to the Verbandsliga (V) or Bezirksliga Westfalen (VI).

At the time of their 1999 merger "VfB" and "SpVgg" were both competing in the Verbandsliga Westfalen (V). Two years later the new club was promoted to the Oberliga Westfalen (IV) where they remained until being sent down in 2006.

Honours

"VfB Bielefeld"
*West German champions: 1931 (as VfB Bielefeld)
*Verbandsliga Westfalen champions: 1973

"VfB Fichte Bielefeld"
*Verbandsliga Westfalen champions: 2001

tadium

"Fichte" plays its home matches at the Stadion Rußheide which has a capacity of ~12,000 spectators.

External links

* [http://www.vfbfichte.de/ Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/fichte.html Abseits Guide to German Soccer]